Seamless and Simple wins Social
Whether its the frictionless sharing of Spotify or the ease and beauty of Instagram, the panel weighed in on what’s critical in social. Discussing Google+, Facebook Mobile, Foursquare, Gowalla and Color, the team weighed in on who’s winning and who’s losing, as well as what the latter group can do to get back in the race.

iPad isn’t the Only Player in Tablets
With more than 14 percent of all online Black Friday traffic coming from mobile devices, tablets are here to stay. Unfortunately, most of the more than 100 tablets announced at CES 2011, were losers. The Apple iPad was an obvious winner. But the panel said there were at least two other winners who, like the iPad, focused on content more than specs.

Mobile Remains the Center of Everything
While QR Codes and mobile wallets have yet to reach a mass audience, smartphone payments are delivering big dividends for a major coffee company. The discussion covered Starbucks’ 26 million mobile transactions, the ongoing digital mobile education of consumers and the need for better mobile imedia experiences.

Entertainment Still about the Content
While the streaming services of Netflix, Amazon and Blockbuster all fight similar catalogue battles, the real winner may be Redbox. The panel discussed why this automated kiosk rental company that’s seemingly around every corner could win out, along with the lesson brands can learn from a Guinness World Record-setting celebrity.

One Brand Becomes a Juggernaut
Listen to the whole podcast to find out what company performed so well in 2011 that the panel granted them Juggernaut status.

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Adobe Abandons Flash for Mobile Browsers
Recently, Adobe announced that it was abandoning work on a Flash Player for mobile and focusing its efforts on HTML5. The weThink panel discussed how the proliferation of iOS devices may have forced Adobe’s hand, why Flash isn’t completely dead, ways rich experiences can be delivered via mobile and other matters related to an announcement some in the industry have long expected.

Kindle Fire Concentrates on Content
While most tablet manufacturers tried to win the tablet war with hardware, the success of the iPad and popularity of the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are proving consumers care more about content. The RI:Lab experts talked about Amazon.com’s new tablet, including its price point, form factor, content delivery system and potential to become many households’ secondary tablet.

Google+ Brand Pages: Too Little, Too Late?
Less than a week ago, Google+ finally began allowing brands to have pages. The panel dug into the effects of taking so long after the network launched to give brands a place to live. They also discussed why brands might want to wait before putting a great deal of effort into another social network, the lack of a true differentiators for Google+ and the need for the network to offer significant usage data.

Picks of the Week

Kris: With his first Pick of the Week, Kris selected two envisioned future videos. Corning’s “A Day Made of Glass” and Microsoft’s “Productivity Future Vision 2011” videos imagine a world where every flat surface is an interaction point. To counter those videos, Kris also offered an article entitled “A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design”, which suggested many visions of the future aren’t visionary enough.

Dan: This week, Dan’s Pick was Amazon Flow. Using augmented reality features, this iPhone app lets consumers scan items—from book covers to standard UPC codes—to get information. When it recognizes a product, the app displays Amazon.com product details, as well as options to view multimedia content or customer reviews.

Barce: The Jawbone UP wristband made it to the top of Barce’s list this week. Built around a motion sensor, the wristband tracks users’ daily activities, including sleep, steps and exercise. It works with an iPhone app that lets the wearer review his or her sleep cycle, challenge progress and more.

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In this edition of the weThink podcast, the panel fills your ears with their previous Google+ predictions, a native app versus mobile web discussion, talk about Facebook mobile experiences, a look at the iPhone 4S and more.

Revisiting Google+
Three weeks into the Google+ public launch, the podcast panel decided to reassess their initial questions about and predictions for the social networking site. While three of the four panelists originally overestimated the number of people that would be Google+ members by now (approximately 43 million), none were surprised at the numbers. In fact, the panel members wondered if the overwhelming number of people already on Facebook and the lack of a differentiator between the two social networks could mean an end to Google+.

From Native Apps to Web Apps
The panel took on a recently written article that used the controversial headline: “Mobile Apps Must Die”. Though the team had strong opinions about the presentation and tone of the article, it agreed that the movement from native apps to web apps was a subject worthy of deep consideration. The discussion included dialogue about changing web standards, the future of ubiquitous connection opportunities and the need for a progressive shift.

Facebook’s Mobile Updates
Earlier this week, Facebook released its first iPad app, as well as updates to its smartphone app and mobile web site. The team talked about the changes and how they will help improve the user experience.

Apple iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 5
With the iPhone 4S being delivered, the team wanted to discuss why this newest version is special and why any consumer indignation was misplaced. The team talked about the one-million iPhone 4S devices pre-sold in the first 24 hours of availability and the features that drove consumers to speak with their wallets. From the improved camera to the artificial intelligence of Siri, the panel thought the world-record of “Fastest-selling Consumer Electronics Device”—held by Kinect for selling 8 million units in 60 days—could be in reach for the iPhone 4S.

Picks of the Week

Barce: For his Pick of the Week, Barce selected foursquare Radar, which helps users find places near them that they may not have know were there. Using new iOS 5 features, the foursquare app will encourage users to try new places, check in more frequently and use lists more actively.

Dan: This week, Dan’s favorite bit of technology was Tweet Speaker, which will read your list of tweets out loud. Not only does it let you focus on walking or driving while still hearing your latest tweets, it also looks at links and reads the title of said link instead of just telling you the URL.

Matthew: This time, Matt’s Pick of the Week was Disney AppMates, which uses miniature Cars 2 vehicles and an iPad to bring playtime to life digitally. When kids, or adults, place a car on an iPad, the car’s sensors let the person explore the world of Radiator Springs.

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This week’s weThink podcast includes discussions on Google+, streaming music, credit card deals, social networking and much more.

Is it Interesting?

Headlines featuring American Express, Twitter and Nickelodeon led the team’s discussion of topics that may or may not be interesting this week.

• American Express offers deals based on Facebook likes: A new program from Amex lets customers link credit cards to deals that are offered based on social graph ‘likes’. The team found the “Link, Like, Love” service—which offers statement credits when users buy deals with their Amex card—quite interesting. They also hoped the program has plans to combine users’ purchase history with their social graphs in a mobile, location-based service.

• Twitter’s CEO expects commerce to be a revenue stream: With Google+ challenging Twitter’s messaging platform, the team discussed why this is a critical time for the company to add a commerce element. The question, according to the experts, is whether or not commerce is actually the long-term revenue stream that Twitter needs.

• Facebook groups drive Nickelodeon to create programming block: Nickelodeon brand TeenNick is starting a Classic 90s programming block after a number of Facebook groups pushed for the return of shows such as Clarissa Explains It All, Doug and Keenan & Kel. The RI:Lab panel found it very interesting that Nick has been paying attention to and responding to relevant Facebook groups.

Google+ and Social

Google+ launched as an invitation-only social network just three weeks ago and it’s already grown 821 percent to more than 18 million users. As the network moves toward a public release, there are questions around what it means to Facebook, how it could affect Twitter, what kind of consumer will use the service, when will brands begin to get involved and more. The weThink panel took a few moments to offer their initial impressions on where Google+ stands today, opinions on how it will impact social networking and expectations for where it will be tomorrow.

Early adopters and tech industry users are driving the adoption of Google+, which the panel sees as a different animal than Facebook. With its connection to Google’s other services, including documents, email, operating systems and more, Google is a suite of items that give users the power to get things done while being social. The question for brands and marketers is how they can use Google+ to deliver targeted advertising based on users’ searches, service use and information.

Listen to the podcast for the complete discussion and read these related articles:

Mark Cuban Likes Google+

How fast is Google+ growing?

Picks of the Week

Barce: The U.S. arrival of digital music service Spotify earned Barce’s Pick of the Week praise. The streaming service that’s been a European hit for a few years provides on-demand song access at free, unlimited and premium levels.

Dan: This week, Dan’s favorite use of technology comes from Stocktouch. This iPad app uses colored sectors and live, up-to-the-minute information to help users monitor the market. Companies doing well are green, ones breaking even are black and those who are down are red.

Matthew: For his Pick of the Week, Matthew selected Photovine. This social photo app lets users take pictures with their iPhone and share them in user-created groups called vines. The ‘vines’ are topics, such as “warm and fuzzy”, that invite users to share photos fit for each topic.

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Is it Interesting?

The “Is it Interesting” segment kicked off the podcast with a chat about a virtual currency theft and Facebook’s rumored mobile platform and photo-sharing apps.

• Facebook may develop a mobile platform: Early rumors suggest that the social networking giant is planning to launch a mobile platform codenamed Project Spartan, with one goal being to take on Apple in the mobile app market. The panel thought it was interesting that Facebook may use HTML5 to distribute web-based applications to its nearly 700 million global users. However, they didn’t think it was necessarily a challenge to Apple’s existing app distribution system.

• Facebook developing a photo-sharing app: The Palo Alto-based social network is already the most popular photo-sharing site—more than 100 million photos get uploaded daily—but Facebook may be creating a service that rivals apps such as Instagram, Color, Liveshare and others. The panel said this development has the chance to be interesting, but questioned whether the alleged photo application would offer the options consumers have come to expect from photo-sharing apps.

• Bitcoin has its first major theft: A user of the peer-to-peer, virtual currency recently had 25,000 Bitcoins stolen. That’s equal to nearly $500,000 U.S. Since Bitcoins are traded through a decentralized, anonymous network, it’s nearly impossible to identify the thief or get the currency returned. The panel found this interesting, but didn’t think it would be a major hindrance to the future of regulated virtual currency.

The Future of Advertising on Tablets

As tablet use continues to increase, it’s critical for brands to get a handle on how this new medium will help them connect with customers. Forecasts suggest that 55 million and 81 million tablets will sell in 2011 and 2012 respectively. As the number of consumers embracing tablets grows, so to do the opportunities for brands to deliver relevant targeted messaging.

MasterCard partnered with Wired Magazine to create a sponsored section in the publication’s June iPad edition. This section allows consumers to read Wired’s ratings of various gadgets and click through to buy them from Amazon. The panel considered this a great addition to not just Everywhere Commerce, but also a peek into the future of tablet advertising.

Soon digital advertising as a whole—from banners and mobile ads to in-app features and videos—will be more relevant to consumers. This means brands will give consumers messaging that’s local, social, personal, transactional and motivational. The podcast experts discussed how these relevant and dynamic ads will decrease in number but increase in effectiveness, boosting consumer engagement and completely changing the way we shop.

Picks of the Week

Matthew: OnLive is a service that uses cloud computing to deliver on-demand gaming to PCs, Macs, TVs and mobile devices. Regardless of a game’s native platform, OnLive passes the game experience on to end users without the need for disks or hardware.

Dan: The Ping iPing app is Ping’s free app that works with an iPhone or iPod Touch cradle ($30) by attaching to a golfer’s putter. Using the device’s gyroscope and accelerometer, the app identifies a player’s stroke type, analyzes impact angle and measures tempo to establish a putting handicap.

Barce: The life-size, pinball machine skateboard park. New Zealand Mountain Dew built a 600-square foot pinball machine to promote the launch of three new flavors. The park treats the skater or BMXer as the ball and allows them to earn points—displayed on a backboard—by doing tricks on tunnels, ramps, flippers and bumpers.

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Is it Interesting?

The “Is it Interesting” segment included a discussion on Call of Duty’s new social component, a tweeting refrigerator and the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

• Apple to announce cloud and OS updates: On June 6, Apple will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The event will include Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud announcements. Though details were incomplete at the time, the panel thought this could mean a desktop operating system that more closely resembles the tablet experience, always-on voice recognition and an industry-changing music experience.

• Connected fridge modifies consumer behavior: Brazilian bottled water company Bonafont sent social celebrities a Twitter-connected, desktop fridge. To encourage greater water consumption, it tweeted when the door was opened and when it hadn’t been opened for a while. The panel found this interesting and considered it one of many ‘things’ that will be connected in the near future.

• Call of Duty adds gamification to gaming: Activision has announced Call of Duty: Elite, a social experience that creates a cross-platform community for about 20 million video gamers. The panel discussed the opportunities this creates for supplementary advertising, extended playability and additional touchpoints.

Peer-to-Peer Social Experiences

Centralized social networking is being challenged by distributed experiences that allow people to interact directly. These peer-to-peer social interactions give individuals the power to come together digitally in a way that mirrors physical world connections.

With peer-to-peer experiences, consumers can socialize instantly with existing and new friends based on location, interests, needs and other factors, instead of having to post and check a central location for updates. The removal of the intermediary hub helps create immediate, small group relevance and may presage the creation of automated social graphs.

The team discussed the implications of peer-to-peer social experiences such as Zaarly, Gigwalk, Color and LiveShare. From creating immediate disposable social interactions and event-focused groups to enabling instant mobile workforces and personal community clusters, the panel talked about the ways people can enjoy focused, relevant interactions and brands can change the way impressions are made.

Picks of the Week

Dan: The Stats of the Union iPad app visualizes the state of health and wellness in the United States. From life expectancy to medical care access, the app helps users see data on the American health.

Matthew: With his Pick of the Week, Matthew selected Getaround. This social car sharing app not only lets people rent cars from individuals around them, it also offers hardware that makes it easy for potential renters to unlock and start any car available for rent.

Barce: With the Gmail people widget, Gmail users can quickly view information about the people they chat with or email. It offers a summary of the ways people have communicated with one another, including recent emails, chats, shared events and shared Google Docs.

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In this week’s weThink podcast from Resource Interactive, the RI:Lab expert panel takes on a new Twitter acquisition, flash fashion sites, cable television, connected cars and more.

Is it Interesting?

This portion of the podcast features our take on the importance of various news items. Up for review this week were Twitter’s potential TweetDeck purchase, Amazon’s new fashion site and the age of ‘Cord Nevers’.

• Twitter Makes Offer to Acquire TweetDeck: While the deal is not yet complete, our panel agreed that this potential move was very interesting. From Twitter’s need to speak in one voice to the potential ad revenue value, this is a social media event that has people tweeting up a storm.
• Amazon launches New Fashion Site, MyHabit.com: Another flash sale site a la Gilt Groupe and HauteLook launches to give consumers access to upscale brands at sale prices. The team found this interesting for a variety of reasons, including the site’s seamless interface, integration with Amazon and potential social shopping elements.
• Cable’s Real Challenge Is Not Cord Cutters, But ‘Cord Nevers’: With television ownership dropping, the team discussed a new generation that may never see value in paying for cable TV on a box in their home. However, they may still consume media on the go using various standalone services. This was, of course, quite interesting.

Cars Connecting Consumers and Brands

Recent developments, such as the new Mini Connected system, are taking consumer in-car experiences far beyond streaming radio and seatback video. The RI:Lab panel took an extended look at the integration of cars and technology, from location-based services (LBS) and car-monitoring apps to local search and proximity-focused deals.

Mini, maker of the Cooper and Countryman, recently released an enhanced Connected system that allows drivers to connect their iPhone to in-car technology that enables local search, efficient driving monitoring, RSS feed and Twitter stream access and more. Along with other car makers such as Volvo, Jaguar and Ford, Mini is helping to create in-car infotainment that allows users to connect with their social graphs and brands.

The team discussed the potential of connecting phones to car displays that allow the system to continually evolve with technology. This included an exciting chat around using driving data to offer consumers deals based on the way they drive and the routes they take, as well as integrating social graphs, calendars, gamification and nearby places of interest. Listen to the podcast for the complete, in-depth conversation.

Picks of the Week

Dan: The Qwiki iPad app uses existing information, such as that available on Wikipedia, and presents it in an interesting and engaging way. Featuring images, videos, statistics and even audio, Qwiki curates and re-presents content, transforming it from data into storytelling experiences.

Matthew: Explore your music collection in a new way with the Planetary iPad app Matthew’s Pick of the Week analyzes your iTunes collection, then uses stars, planets and moons to depict artists and render a beautiful universe of sound while you’re listening.

Barce: Scribble, which lets users annotate web pages on the fly, was a secondary Pick of the Week. The similarly named Stipple, however, was Barce’s primary Pick. This tool enables distributed commerce by allowing brands to tag products in digital photos. Users can then scroll over the tagged photos, get additional information and even buy on the fly.

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It’s time for another weThink podcast. This week, the RI:Lab panel discusses e-reader ads, the death of single-use devices, airport check-ins, mobile’s merger with desktops, the enduring significance of location-based services and more.

Is It Interesting?

Each week, there are thousands of emerging media and technology headlines. In the “Is It Interesting” segment, our podcast panel selects a few of the most recent headlines and discusses why they are, or are not, interesting.

• Amazon Kindle with Ads: Amazon recently announced a new $114 Kindle with sponsored screen savers and special offers. The panel thought it was “conditionally interesting” because while this approach may create a new category, $25 off the original price may not be a large enough incentive for consumer adoption.

• The Flip Cam is No More: Cisco soon will “exit aspects of its consumer businesses,” which includes shutting down the Flip. While interesting, the panel didn’t find this surprising. Everyone said it’s another example of multi-functional devices, such as smart phones, killing off single-use devices.

• Virgin America’s Check-in Game: Virgin launched a program at San Francisco International Airport’s new Terminal 2 that awards badges and prizes for check-ins. The panel was split on how interesting this program is because it capitalizes on a captive audience, but is also a niche offering. The question is how other brands can start to capitalize on similar consumer downtime moments.

• The White iPhone 4 Finally Coming: The RI:Lab experts weren’t convinced this elusive white iPhone 4 is on its way, and didn’t find it very interesting either. What is interesting, however, is the possibility of customizing our devices with any color we want at prices that aren’t prohibitive.

The Merging of Mobile and Desktop

Mobile devices and desktops have been coming together for some time. Now, we’re starting to see environments that allow you to run virtual versions of apps on your desktop, which is signaling the need to eventually build once and port to many. Soon, the mobile device will be a hub that allows you to access a single OS experience in the cloud. You’ll buy a single app and purchase add-ons that let you use the same app on other devices. The key is figuring out how to easily port experiences to various channels.

Is There a Lack of Interest in LBS?

The team talked about a recently released survey that suggested smart phone users are not interested in location-based services (LBS). To bolster its finding, the report revealed that 60 percent of smart phone users do not use LBS. In discussing this report, the panel first expressed the need to distinguish between ‘location’ and ‘checking in’. The latter is being done manually by 40 percent of smart phone users, which is a substantial number. The former is going to be crucial to everything we do in the digital future. From local retailer information to pushing data about nearby social connections, LBS is just getting started and will be important for a long, long time.

Kinect Becomes a Platform

Microsoft recently announced an SDK (software development kit) for Kinect, its motion-controlled gaming system. Along with the ability to play Netflix videos using gestures and voice, we’re entering an era of natural use interfaces. While initial efforts may appear clunky at first, the idea is there and it’s high time we move beyond the mouse, which is 50 years old. Soon, we won’t even notice the technology that not only gives us control, but also gives us experiences based on who we are and what we like. Consider the movie screens that watch viewers to see how much fun they’re having.

Picks of the Week

Dan: With so much online video out there, a curation app is key to seeing the things you want. This week, Dan’s Pick is the Squrl iPad app. This curation app lets you collect video, create galleries based on your interests, post collections and even follow collections created by other users.

Matt: Meal Snap is an app that uses uploaded meal photos to tell you what you’re eating and estimate the calories your meal contains. While Matt and the other panel members were convinced it works using black magic, they also thought three bucks was a great price for such an incredible app.

Barce: The Masters iPad app was everything the Oscar’s app should’ve been. It offered multiple live views, player bios, course flyovers, landmark and hole back stories, interactive timelines and embedded video. Barce and the team thought the Masters app was what interactive TV should be.

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This time, RI:Lab’s experts give their take on a new SPIN Magazine app, Foursquare’s unifying database and a host of SXSW topics—including gamification, location-based services, convergence and the development of robots that are smarter than humans.

Is It Interesting?

You know it and you love it. Based on one of the most common words to occur in our podcasts, this segment looks at recent headlines and asks the panel: “Is it Interesting?”

• SPIN Play iPad App: From the publishers of SPIN, the Play app offers every page of the magazine, along with streaming songs and videos curated by SPIN’s editors. The panel found it interesting, but thought the Aweditorium app may be more so.
• Foursquare’s Unified Places Database: Everyone in the room thought this effort to centralize and de-dupe location data was very interesting. They also loved the idea of partners getting involved in the effort.
• Twitter’s New Terms of Service: Speaking of eliminating duplication, the team thought Twitter’s new guidelines against any new Twitter clients was interesting, as it will allow the company to project a single voice and drive innovation.
• Verizon Phones Fall Back: Two members of the panel found the irony of—quite possibly—the iPhone’s simplest element failing so often very interesting. However, another panel member said he finds nothing at all interesting about the Verizon iPhone. Listen to find out why.
• League of Extraordinary Hackers Builds Robots: While the team didn’t know about this day-long effort to build robots using LEGO Mindstorm kits, they always find robots interesting.

Recapping the SXSW Conference

Dan and Matt discussed their recent visit to the annual South by Southwest (SXSW)  conference, which focuses on the latest developments in film, music and interactive. This year, the interactive portion was the largest of all, and two of RI:Lab’s experts absorbed as much of it as possible.

The panel talked about how the conference became a vision of what a small urban community may be in a few years. There were QR codes all over the place and nearly everyone was walking and listening to panels with their head downs, as they focused on various mobile devices. While the ability for marketers to connect with consumers in multiple ways is certainly a positive, there were questions about the act of capturing an activity versus truly experiencing it.

Here are just a few SXSW highlights that stood out for the team:

Gamification

While the focus over the last few years has been social media, gamification may soon take its place. The panel discussed how game mechanics and rewards will soon become a part of everything we do, from earning loyalty points to driving social causes. What may be most interesting, however, is that we’re still in the infancy stage of a trend that soon will tie everything together.

Location-Based Services

Gowalla made a huge splash at SXSW with an Airstream trailer, passports, stickers and t-shirts—but the bigger impact may have been made by Foursquare before the conference started. The team chatted about Foursquare’s new recommendation engine that helps users find what’s nearby and why they might want to go there, along with the next step of passive check-ins tied to loyalty.

Interactive TV

For some time, the talk around interactive television has involved adding information and tools onto the TV screen. What’s more likely to happen, the panel suggested, is that tablets will become our secondary level of interaction. This allows multiple people to watch TV in the same room while viewing it all through their own individualized interactive lens. What’s more, that lens may include opportunities for brands to deliver personalized messaging.

Convergence

The general idea of convergence has focused on the “three screens” merging and consumers’ ability to watch what they want anywhere they want. However, the RI:Lab experts discussed Convergence, with a capital C. This idea of Convergence goes deeper and begins blurring the lines between all our activities, which continues to happen as digital and physical worlds crash together, changing the way we interact with technology and people.

Singularity

As part of this week’s podcast, the team also discussed what it thought was one of the most interesting portions of the SXSW conference: Singularity. The idea is that we may be approaching a time when computers are able to make symbolic connections and have a form of artificial intelligence. When this happens, computers will become more intelligent than humans, completely transforming civilization. The projected time period for this moment of Singularity is within 30-35 years.

Picks of the Week

Barce: Volkswagen Norway recently offered what it called the world’s first test drive inside a print ad. This Pick of the Week allows consumers to download an app they can launch and place over a magazine ad to discover features such as lane assist and adaptive headlights.

Matthew: With another call back to robots, Matt’s Pick of the Week was the iPhone app Dokobots. Offering a new take on social experiences, this app allows users to create, name, direct and drop off a virtual robot. These bots can then be picked up by other users around the world, who can add photos and entries to the robot’s journal

Dan: This week, Dan’s Pick was private, group messaging service Beluga. This mobile app allows users to create a disposable social graph for quick, real-time communication between select groups of friends. The group’s members can send instant messages and photos, so everyone always knows what’s happening, whether it’s a project group at the office or a group of friends snowboarding in Vail.

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In this week’s RI:Lab podcast, our expert panel takes on iPad 2, Facebook “Like” button updates, Gmail problems, video coupons, Oscar apps, revolutions, the royal family and, of course, Charlie Sheen.

Is it Interesting?

This week’s podcast offered the second installment of our “Is it Interesting?” segment. In this portion of the podcast, the panel reviews a slate of headlines and quick stories before offering their take on the noteworthiness of each item. Here are this week’s headlines and a summary of responses:

• Chipotle Video Coupon: Everyone agreed that the idea and deal were interesting, but the panel questioned whether the implementation was successful at getting the video’s message across to consumers.

• The Oscars’ All-Star Access App: The panel was split on this one because it could have been so much more. However, everyone seemed to agree that it offered a glimpse into the potential of behind-the-scenes features for live television.

• Charlie Sheen: The near consensus was that Sheen’s Guinness World record rise in Twitter followers was interesting because it, and, more importantly, a number of revolutions around the world, were further demonstrations of social media’s speed and power.

• Loopt at SXSW: Proximity-based deals are growing in popularity. So, the panel thought Loopt’s combination of rewards and deals, as well as AT&T’s recent foray into the arena with SMS-delivered deals were both very interesting.

• The Royal Wedding Gets High Tech: While the team didn’t find Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding plans all that interesting, they did think their website and social media channels demonstrated a fascinating effort by the Royal Family to stay in touch with a younger generation.

iPad 2 Cements Apple as Dominant Tablet Player

The iPad 2 may be more evolutionary than revolutionary, but what an evolution. The updated tablet is not only lighter, thinner and faster, it also ships before many of Apple’s competitor’s ship their first gen tablets and is backed by a full complement of 65,000 apps.

While the podcast panel liked the new iPad’s front and back facing cameras, simple, feature-rich cover, and HDMI out function, they also identified several questions. The fact that iTunes is not yet in the cloud left the group a bit disappointed. And they wondered if the near future would see a convergence of the Macbook Air and iPad into a highly-portable, powerful hybrid device.

“Like” and “Share” Join Forces on Facebook

Facebook’s days of offering separate “Like” and “Share” buttons are coming to an end. The “Like” button is taking on all the features of the share function and, in doing so, eliminating confusion about their difference and helping brands keep consumer interactions front and center.

The RI:Lab experts discussed how this updated function gives pages and products that a user “Likes” increased newsfeed prominence. In addition, it may help remind brands that they have the ability to target users based on the things they “Like”. What’s more, the panel said, is that the integration of “Likes” with comment sections across the Internet will help to create more useful discussions.

Gmail and the Future of Cloud Computing

Sure, Gmail had a few issues recently that affected what’s been alternately reported as somewhere between 38,000 and 150,000 people. But the panel was adamant that this disruption in service was nothing more than a trifling hiccup on an inevitable path to a data-filled cloud.

The world we’ll soon inhabit will include the ability to use the cloud to build once and port to many. And while some compare the cloud to a stock market where “you have a very good chance of losing something”, the benefits will outweigh the potential hazards.

Picks of the Week

Matthew: Intuit’s GoPayment device connects to mobile phones and allows nearly anyone to sign up and accept credit card payments. Girl Scout troops across the country are adopting this device so they can accept credit card payments for Thin Mints and all your other favorites.

Dan: Sometimes simple ideas and executions are the best ones. Jose Cuervo’s “Cue the Cab” iPhone app will help revelers find a safe ride home this St. Patrick’s Day and beyond. Users click a single gold button and the app will find their location, figure out the local cab company and dial the number.

Barce: More and more cars are getting connected, but that’s just the beginning. In-car connectivity and mobile devices are combining to offer all manner of services, diagnostic options, productivity tools, safety features, entertainment and more. In fact, this is such a rich area for discussion that the team plans to come back to it in a later podcast. Stay tuned for that ‘interesting’ conversation.

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